🎧 Memoir's Deep Waters: Navigate the Emotional Journey of Life Writing

Writing about your life can sink you. Here's how to stay afloat.

Welcome into Flight School:

How do you write memoir without being turned inside out? How do you keep going when excavating the past feels like reopening old wounds? Does it ever get easier?

I'm asking myself these questions as I write my fifth memoir, The Summer of '72. Here's what I've learned about surviving the journey.

The Truth About Healing

Writing memoir means accepting that healing doesn't mean we'll never hurt again - we'll just hurt differently. When we say "this is me" and "this is what ails me," we're lifting a weight that's both burden and gift.

But unlike physical exercise, you can't simply put down the weight of memory. Thoughts have their own way. If not handled with care, they become whirling dervishes of mayhem, tangling into our emotions and creating chaos.

The Cost of Chaos

I've learned this the hard way: drinking too much, eating too much, working too much, picking fights, shutting out comfort. Worse - telling myself I was utterly alone. Abandoned. That I deserved both. Sound familiar?

There is a way to buffer the pain and treat this work with the reverence it deserves.

A Better Way Forward

Here's what I've learned over the crafting of five memoirs and too-many-to-count essays:

1. Set your intention before touching the keyboard

2. Stop when overwhelmed - remember you're part of something larger

3. Listen to your body about when you're done

4. Thank yourself for what you gave today

5. Remember those who can't tell their stories yet

✍️Your Turn

What rituals help you navigate the deep waters of memoir writing? Share your survival techniques in the comments - I'd love to hear them.

~ Jennifer 🐦‍⬛